Somewhere in the mist:
A tall, gray-eyed man looked around, confused and lost. He didn't know how he'd gotten in the mists or where he really was. He saw the outline of a castle in the distance, and headed towards it.
He arrived at a door and, with a trembling hand, knocked on the large oak door. After a few moments, the door opened, and a young girl stood there. "Derek! What happened to you?" she exclaimed as she led him inside.
*
Alex leaned out the window of Kat's room and looked at the sparkling stars shining in the night star. She noticed one star that was particularly bright, and said halfway to herself, halfway to the star, "Star light Star bright, brightest star I see tonight. Wish I may, I wish I might, have this wish I wish tonight. I wish?"
Her voice trailed off, and she looked back over at Kat's still form and walked back over to the bed. "Kat, sweets, come on. I know you're in there. I can feel you. Come on. Wake up." She plopped down in the chair, frustrated and tired.
"Alex?" a faint voice said, shaking. "Is that you?"
"Kat! Where are you?" Alex said, looking at the bed. Her still form on the bed didn't stir.
"Kat, listen to me. You have to wake up. Focus on my voice. Your mom, Nick, and I have been very worried about you. Come on, wake up!" Alex pleaded, and leaned over the bed. To her astonishment, she saw Kat's eyes flutter and open.
"Hey there Kat. About time you woke up." Alex said softly and headed for the door.
"Alex, get Mom and Nick. I know where Derek is. He told me." Kat said, groaning as she sat up.
*
A few minutes later, Kat was brushing her hair as Rachel, Alex, and Nick entered the room. Rachel went over and hugged her daughter, relief showing in her face. "Mom, we don't have time for this. I know where Derek is. We have to go to him. We're running out of time. They're going to find him and kill him if we don't find him NOW!"
"Kat, calm down. What happened to you?" Rachel asked, trying to force her daughter back to the bed.
"I don't have time to explain. Trust me. Derek's life is on the line." her voice quivered, and she struggled to hold back the tears that threatened to pour out.
Nick and Alex nodded, and after a moment, so did Rachel. "Alright, but afterwards you are going to explain it all ok?"
Kat smiled and nodded.
*
They drove out of the city, Kat telling them to turn occasionally. Kat told them to turn onto a dirt road, and they bumped along. Finally, they saw an old abandoned house. The once white walls had turned to a mottled gray, and the porch looked as if it was about ready to fall in. Rachel looked skeptically at her daughter, who jumped out of the SUV and ran to the door.
Nick hopped out and grabbed Kat as she reached the door. "Hold on a sec. Let me go in first, just in case. We don't know what kind of state he's in. Let me check it out first, ok?" He said, and Kat nodded sullenly.
He pushed open the door slowly, and shined his flashlight inside. There was only the one room, and it was completely bare, except for a couch facing away from him. Nick signaled outside, and Rachel followed him in. Alex held Kat by the shoulders, anxiously waiting.
They circled over to the couch. They saw a motionless form laying there. {Derek!} Rachel thought, feeling a faint pulse at his neck, and could see his chest struggling as it rose and fell. They picked him up, carefully so as not to hurt him, and took him outside. They laid him down on the remnants of grass that were all that remained of the front yard.
Kat watched as her mom and Nick carried Derek out, his battered and bloodied body only hanging on to life by a single silver thread. She quietly slunk away from Alex into the edge of the woods surrounding the house. She focused her mind on Derek, the way she had always known him.
"Derek here your body lies,
In the sight of friend some eyes.
To it now you must go,
And your safety let us know" she intoned, and walked back to where Rachel was trying to rouse Derek. His head rolled sideways and he opened his eyes and looked at Kat.
"Derek! I did it!" Kat said excitedly.
Her mom looked at her, surprised and confused, then at Derek, who was clearly in pain. "OK, Derek, just relax. It's going to be ok, we'll take care of you."
They picked him up and carried him to the SUV. Alex sat on one side of him, holding his hand tightly, as they drove back to the city.
*
In the dark a pair of eyes glowed red like embers. An ominous laugh rang through the woods, and a flock of birds took flight from the treetops. and a voice rang out, "I'm not finished with you yet, Derek Rayne. In fact, I've just begun."
*****
Have some fun with
Poultrygeist the Eggacy
Nick strutted around the hen house. Derek had gone to a Head Rooster Confrence upstate, and left him in charge. He heard schratching upstairs, and hopped upstairs. He found Alex and Rachel flapping their wings and pecking at each other.
"Brwak! What is going on here?" he asked.
"She took all my eggs!" Alex squacked.
"No I didn't. You lost them" Rachel said calmly, smoothing her feathers. "Besides, why would I want them?"
"Cause you couldn't lay a grade A egg if your life depended on it." Alex retorted.
"Hey, if you two don't stop squaking like a pair of hatchlings, I'm going to take you to the Butterball factory!" Nick shouted, and the hens went to their nests to sulk.
He shrugged, went to the kitchen and made a giant omlette.
A little while later---
Alex preened her feathers, trying to calm her anger. "I know she has my eggs hidden somewhere. I just have to find them." She clucked and went over to the door. She pecked it open, and hopped down the stairs.
The air smelled like something was cooking, so Alex went to the kitchen. Nick was slipping an omelet onto his plate.
"NICK!" She screeched. "What the Braack are you eating?"
Nick looked up, surprised, then sarcastically said, "Breakfast. What's it look like?"
"But? But it's eggs!" she said outraged.
"So what! Beats cornflakes." he shrugged, and cut into the food.
"That's absolutely disgusting! That's practically cannibalism!"
"Get over it! Want a bite?" he asked, spearing a piece of the egg.
"UGH!" she shuddered in disgust and left.
"I guess she doesn't want to go on a picnic with me this afternoon. And I was going to pick up some KFC too?" he smiled, and finished his breakfast. |